Chapter 11. The Northern Confederacy - the Invasion of the North.
This chapter tells how the kings of the northern parts of Canaan now combined together against Joshua, and how YHWH encouraged him to fight them, delivering them into his hands, so that all their people were smitten by him. It describes how he captured their cities, destroyed their inhabitants, and took their spoil. The chapter concludes with an account of his destroying the Anakim and declares that he had now ‘conquered' the whole land, so that there was a a lull from fighting enabling the Israelites to establish themselves without being resisted.
‘ And it happened that when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were to the north, in the hill country and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor to the west, to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.'
When the king of Hazor heard of this triumphant army that had swept through Southern Canaan he decided that it was time for serious action. The name Jabin was probably a throne name. Another Jabin would face Barak and Deborah later (Judges 4:2). But Hazor was ‘a royal city' and its king was called in inscriptions a ‘Great King' (sarrum), permanent overlord over a number of cities. He thus had great influence. This would be the most powerful force that Joshua had yet faced.
Hazor (Tell el-Qedah) was an important city state in northern Canaan which had great authority over its neighbours. It was ‘ head of all those kingdoms', (Joshua 11:10). Archaeology tells us that it had been there since the third millennium BC and in the second millennium was extended by the building of a lower city. At this stage it would have had about forty thousand inhabitants, a large city indeed, almost as large as Megiddo. The lower city contained a Canaanite temple and a small shrine. It was referred to regularly throughout the centuries, by Egypt, Mari and Babylon, as an important political centre, and as mentioned above its ruler was given the title ‘Great King' (sarrum), a status above that usually conferred on rulers of city states.
But the alliance he put together reached farther than that. Jobab, king of Madon (Joshua 12:19) was important enough for his name to be remembered, although Madon is unidentified. Possibly he was Jabin's general in the same way as Sisera would be after him. Along with the kings of Shimron (Joshua 12:20 has Shimron- meron, compare Joshua 19:15) and Achshaph he was probably a vassal of Jabin. Any identification for Shimron is tenuous (Tell es-Semuniyeh has been suggested but disputed) but Achshaph was near Acco and is mentioned in Egyptian lists and in Papyrus Anastasi I.
“The kings who were to the north, in the hill country and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor to the west, to the Canaanite on the east and on the west.” A wide ranging alliance. Northern cities, cities in the Galilean hill country, cities in the Jordan rift valley (the Arabah) south of Lake Chinnereth (Numbers 34:11; Deuteronomy 3:17) or of the city of that name (Joshua 19:35 - probably Khirbet el-Oreimah), and the heights of Dor which probably came under the jurisdiction of, and may have included, Dor, the important seaport on the coast south of Carmel mentioned by Raamses II and later conquered by the Sea Peoples (the Tjeker). It is noteworthy that the large cities of the plain of Esdraelon further South, Megiddo and Taanach are not mentioned, as they assuredly would have been had they been involved.
“The Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.” The list of the nations involved is then given in order to expand the picture. All six of the nations regularly mentioned are deliberately included. Canaanites are seen as spread from east to west of northern Canaan, the remainder are connected with the hill country.
Jebusites were usually mentioned as the inhabitants of Jerusalem but these were clearly resident elsewhere (Numbers 13:29), unless some came from Jerusalem, one of the few cities not to be taken by Joshua, in order to support him against Israel after their own ignominious earlier defeat. But if the writer had seen Jerusalem as being involved he would surely have mentioned it. Hivites are seen in the centre of the country (Joshua 9:7) but there were clearly some in the vicinity of Hermon, compare Judges 3:3. For the land of Mizpah compare Joshua 11:8. For the site of this Mizpah (there were a number of Mizpahs - the name means ‘watchtower') Qual‘at es-Subeibeh, near the Lake of Huleh, has much support.